From contract to switch-on, and the 25 years after

The timeline

Design and permits (2–6 weeks): the installer finalises the layout and applies to your city and your utility. Installation (1–3 days). Inspection by the city. Permission to operate from the utility, after which you switch on. Do not turn the system on before permission arrives.

Living with it

Solar needs little care. Rain cleans most panels; in dry, dusty places an occasional rinse helps. Look at your monitoring app once a month: a sudden drop usually means a fault, not the weather.

Compare your first year with the estimate. Real years vary by 5–10% with the weather. A shortfall bigger than that is worth raising with the installer while the workmanship warranty is fresh.

Warranties to keep on file

Panels: usually 25 years for product and output (about 85–90% of the original output at year 25). Microinverters: often 25 years; string inverters: 10–12 years, so budget for one replacement. Batteries: about 10 years. Workmanship and roof penetrations: 10 to 25 years, depending on the installer.